022: My Thing with Stephen King
Stephen King surrounded by depictions of some of his most famous books (from the top left, going clockwise): Carrie, Misery, Pet Sematary, The Stand, On Writing and The Long Walk. I have a thing with Stephen King. The trauma The first King I read was Carrie. The throwing of tampons, the psychic spells and the scene at the prom made an indelible mark on my teenage mind. “Perhaps the next one will be less traumatic”, I thought and moved on to Misery where a famous writer, Paul
15 hours ago15 min read
021: What kind of AI solution do I actually need?
I’ve been a Data Scientist for more than 10 years now. I’ve seen a fair few ways that people use data as part of their businesses. I’ve spent my days building analytics solutions that solve different types of business problems. Through this I’ve learned some decision frameworks that have helped to decide what type of solution to deploy. With the advent of Generative AI (GenAI), I’ve experienced a shift in how people build analytics solutions. This has brought some tension in
Sep 2910 min read
020: Introducing DePro - Depression as a Service
What even is is this? I don't think I ever installed it... Depression sucks. It doesn’t suck in a very obvious way like being told you only have 6 months to live. It is more like discovering you’ve been subscribed to a service that you never wanted. If it were a subscription service, it would have a short and catchy name. I’m thinking, simply: DePro. As any subscription service it would come with a free trial. These are often issued in your youth when you realise your art wor
Sep 912 min read
019: Comrades FOMO 2026: Using the Power Plant
Nutrition – the Supply Chain A power plant needs fuel. Not all fuels are created equal. In the Power Plant: As mentioned in the training section where we built our power plant, there are two main fuel types that our bodies use during training, Carbs and Fat. The Carb Supply Chain Carbs are fast-burning kindling of which there is a short supply and Fat is like big, slow-burning logs that are abundant. We can think of our gut as the unloading dock that sources fuel from two dif
May 2113 min read
018: Comrades FOMO 2026 - Building the Power Plant
Training – the Engine When preparing for Comrades, you train from summer into winter. This means that as days get shorter you start runs in darker and colder weather. There will come a day when you wake up and – despite loving the sport – hate the thought of having to get out of your comfortable, warm bed. The trick with your training, is to ensure that that day comes only when you hit your taper 2 to 4 weeks from race day. If you hit that day in early March, when bulk traini
May 2121 min read
017: Comrades 2026 FOMO: Preparing to build a Power Plant
This running story starts with a toenail. When running races with excessive downhills, any ultrarunner knows that their relationship with their toenails is more akin to “one-night stand” than “yours forever”. During Comrades 2025, as I was speeding through the suburbs of Durban towards my first Bill Rowan medal, I could feel my left big toenail growing angrier with every thumping downhill step towards the ocean. As I ran, I imagined what the poor toenail would look like by th
May 2114 min read
016: Ambition
Doing the ambitious work I am ambitious. A day doesn’t go by where I am not planning, assessing, evaluating, validating and executing on becoming a future version of myself that is, in some way, better than who and what I am today. By all accounts, I’ve lived a pretty wonderful life. I did all the right things at school to position myself for a good degree at university. A slight speed-wobble in my second year of studying Actuarial Science created an opportunity to shift to M
Mar 3013 min read
